Memories flow for Portageville coach and his family, upon rare trip to Bloomfield

BLOOMFIELD – Sitting in his usual place as he watched the Portageville High School baseball squad dismantle an overmatched Bloomfield team 12-0 on Monday in Bloomfield – which is to say, he was waaaay off in the distance from the crowd – David Trover could feel the memories rise like a ball off the bats of the Class 3 No. 3-ranked Bulldogs.

“Tyler and I built that bullpen together,” David recalled from his leftfield chair, as he surveyed the Wildcats’ home field.

David is the father of Bulldog coach Tyler Trover, who had brought his team to Stoddard County on a rare occasion so that his dad could watch his team again at the place where it all started for Tyler.

“It’s special,” Tyler said, after clearing the lump out of his throat, of returning to Bloomfield for a game. “Bloomfield gave me my first opportunity, and I am forever grateful.”

Tyler was a rambunctious 23-year-old in 2014 when he was hired to serve as the assistant basketball coach and head baseball coach for the Wildcats, and during his three years at the school, his teams had it rolling.

In 2016, in basketball, he and current Bloomfield High School principal, Jason Karnes, who at the time was the Wildcats’ basketball coach, guided Bloomfield to the MSHSAA Class 2 State Semifinal and won 27 of their 32 games that season.

On the baseball diamond, Trover’s teams won 39 games and never had a losing season, which happens to be the last three Wildcat baseball teams to be able to say that.

“Bloomfield probably stuck with me through a few years where I had a lot of growing up to do, and needed some maturity,” Trover said. “I think about some of the kids that we had here during that time, we had some guys that really grinded and they were coachable.”

Tyler’s parents, David and his mother, Mona, sat together on Monday and soaked up the memories and the atmosphere that took each of the Trovers back in time.

“We had a lot of fun here,” David, who takes in every game his son coaches, “and we had a lot of really good kids. I mean, top-notch.”

David was as feisty as he ever is on Monday, but the truth of the matter is, he has battled lung cancer for several years and only the Good Lord knows how many more times he’s going to be able to sit out in the outfield (he doesn’t want to hear parents’ commentary about his son or the Bulldogs), and enjoy watching his son mentor young people.

“Tyler gets his love of sports from me,” David said, “and I knew when he was 14 years old that he was going to be a coach.”

Back in the Wildcat days, however, it remained to be seen just how good Tyler would become in his chosen profession.

He is in his sixth season of leading the Portageville baseball program and his teams have averaged nearly 23 wins per year through his tenure and claimed four District titles in five years.

Last season, the Bulldogs played until the final game of the MSHSAA season, as they fell in the Class 2 State Final.

Tyler and David both will admit, the success that Tyler achieves today wouldn’t have been possible without the lessons he learned as he grew professionally with the Wildcats.

“We had some really fun wins here,” Tyler said, “and some heartbreaking losses. I learned a lot about myself and it is a lot of fun coming back here for the first time (since leaving in 2017).”

The Bulldogs improved to 12-1 on Tuesday with a 5-3 win over Cape Central.

Portageville will host Charleston (3-3) on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.